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Blue Jackets President of Hockey Operations John Davidson, seen in this file photo, said Tuesday that "people were very excited” in Columbus this summer. “Our ticket sales and ticket base had a very good off-season.”

“Everywhere I went around Columbus all summer, people were very excited,” Davidson said. “Our ticket sales and ticket base had a very good off-season.”

He didn’t get into the numbers, but Larry Hoepfner, the CBJ’s executive vice president of business operations, filled me in on them. He said season-ticket sales stand at around 8,300, which is nearly 20 percent higher than the 7,000 total for last season. The season-ticket renewal rate is 92.5 percent, the highest since the 2006-07 season.

Corporate sponsorship sales also look good, Hoepfner told me, and the number of people following the team on Twitter and Facebook is up by about 20 percent compared with a year ago.

“It’s the anticipation about what the team is going to do,” he said. “People are excited and want to be part of it. They don’t want to miss out.”

Hoepfner credited the increases to the way the Jackets finished on the ice last year and the credibility Davidson and General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen have brought to the hockey operations side of the business in the past year.

Davidson said the team is on much firmer ground now than at the start of the lockout-shortened season last January, with players understanding what management demands of them.

“We feel we have every right to win as much as anyone else,” he said. “I’m not sure we had that feeling a year ago. ... I like our chances.”

Jeff Bell covers the energy industry for Columbus Business First.

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